The history of the universe — from the Big Bang to the end of the year — day by day

Paging Professor Moriarty

One more post on the subject of evil geniuses and asteroids. According to Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes’ nemesis, Professor James Moriarty, was the author of a celebrated book, “The Dynamics of an Asteroid.” Isaac Asimov, in his short story “The ultimate crime,” proposed that Moriarty had discovered that the asteroid belt was the remains of a destroyed planet, and was plotting to destroy Earth in the same fashion (the ultimate crime); the scientific community of Moriarty’s day suppressed his findings.